Mikael Granlund started the season as a Calder Cup favorite. On Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild sent the young forward to its AHL affiliate in Houston.

The move was made on Tuesday before the Wild hosted the Anaheim Ducks.

Granlund started the season on the second line, but he has been scratched five times and has only one goal and five assists in 19 games. The Wild's first-round draft pick in 2010, Granlund had 21 points in 21 games for the Houston Aeros earlier this season before the lockout ended.

The 21-year-old scored in his NHL debut, but the 5-foot-10, 186-pound native of Finland has struggled to find a groove since then. Meanwhile, fellow rookie Charlie Coyle has been playing well on the first line, and another young player, Jason Zucker, has been thriving on the second line.

Minnesota, meanwhile, has only lost once in regulation in its last 14 games and is shooting for a third straight win on Tuesday.

“Young kids have to play,” coach Mike Yeo told reporters, according to the Star Tribune. “The lineup that we have right now deserve to go out there again and gives another a chance to play the way we have the last couple games. As an organization, he’s too important to us to have him sit here not playing. We need to make sure that he’s on top of his game and continuing to develop to play important minutes and important role.”

Yeo added that he didn't believe Granlund's foot speed to be an impediment, and that he'd shown signs of adjusting to the NHL—just that he needed more development time.

Granlund isn't the only member of the Class of 2013 to run into some early roadblocks. No. 1 pick Nail Yakupov has six goals and seven assists but is averaging less than 12 minutes per game for the Edmonton Oilers; Vladimir Tarasenko, the NHL rookie of the month for January, hasn't played for the St. Louis Blues since Feb. 20 because of a concussion; The Calgary Flames demoted Sven Baerstchi, 20, last week after just one assist in 10 games; Chris Kreider, after an amazing 2012 playoff run, has split time between AHL Hartford and the New York Rangers and has two points in 11 games.